Sunday, August 6th, 2017 | 8:00pm
Teddy slipped out the door and towards the woods near his house. He’d told his wife he was going for a walk, which wasn’t a lie, but wasn’t really the truth either. In the back of hid mind was a tinge of guilt for abandoning everything. He’d had people depend on him, but that was part of the problem. He pushed the feeling aside in favour of greater satisfaction and comfort in a new world that he could explore. Maybe he’d wake to become an investment banker in New York, or maybe he’d live in a mountain village in The Himalayas, or work at a video game company in Korea, something he’d always dreamt about. Either way, he found comfort in the promise at a better life, however superior it may be. As he entered the woods, huge fir trees stood before him, towering all around him. As he ventured further inside, he heard the rustle of trees as small creatures went about their daily activities. He looked up and saw a crow gliding through the air above the fir trees. His heart beat faster as his pace picked up, the dead leaves crunching under his feet. He was roaming far inside now and began to worry because no signs appeared. However, that all changed when he saw a signpost in the distance. He walked towards the post and it looked like trees shifted to create a converging path in his direction, the signpost directly in front of him now. On the sign were two images, one was a small Crocodile with an arrow pointing to the right and text that read: The Mystic Crocodile. The other had a small witch on it with an arrow pointing left and text that read: The Witch.
Teddy contemplated the magnitude of the choice he was about to make. It wasn’t too late to go back the other way and everything would be as it was. Teddy hated that idea. Why would he go back? Go back to a life of gloom and despair. He shook his head in one final gesture of rejection and turned right, he’d always hated witches.
Teddy walked a couple paces forward and turned back when he heard a noise jostle behind him; the signpost had disappeared. A couple moments later, Teddy smelt something foul in the air and grimaced. The smell was horrid, and pungent. Teddy thought it smelled like a beached whale, after months of decomposition, but even that doesn’t quite encapsulate the sharpness of it. Teddy pushed through the rankness of it and arrived at a bright yellow, mucky swamp with long reeds sticking out. Bubbles popped on the surface, each one a small piñata of fishy odour. Gross, Teddy thought. The bubbles started drifting towards the middle of the water (if you could call it that) and congregated in a circle. The circle opened and a yellow swampy waterfall ring evolved. In the center of the ring, a dark figure rose from the swamp. The first thing Teddy saw was the top hat, lifting slowly from the boggy chamber, then he saw the head of the beast. It was a humungous Crocodile the likes of which Teddy had never seen before, except this Crocodile had yellow eyes and a black body. If it weren’t for the gleaming yellow eyes and top hat crown that he (she? You never can tell) wore, Teddy would have thought he was looking at a ghost.
“Who cometh to my den?” the beast demanded. The creature was speaking fluent English and had with amazing eloquence.
Teddy was shocked as to what he was experiencing and frightened at the unprecedented power of the creature before him. Teddy didn’t know how to respond so he said exactly what he was thinking. “I couldn’t face the witch.”
“HAHAHAHA! And what makes you think I will show any mercy?” the animal responded. “I am Baka, The Mystic Crocodile, mother of all beasts and keeper of the Gods. I won’t hesitate to show ruthless aggression to you.”
Teddy didn’t know what to say. His mouth hung gapingly open like he was trying to catch flies.
Baka, The Mystic Crocodile continued, “Don’t you see, The Witch doesn’t care about your choices, she just gets hungry. But I… I… I HATE people like you. You and your self-righteous attitude and selfish desires thinking you can just walk away and start again. Wasteful is all you are!”
Baka spoke with amazing clarity and shimmered in the air.
Teddy immediately regretted his choice to pursue the path of The Mystic Crocodile. He thought it would be wiser to not say anything and hopefully death would come quicker to him.
“Thinking I might go easy if you don’t talk? That doesn’t matter Teddy, I can read thoughts.” Hissed Baka, The Mystic Crocodile. “I’ve been in these waters before humans like you spoiled the Earth. I possess powers beyond these lands.”
Even if Teddy wanted to speak, he couldn’t. His amazement was incalculable, and the image of Baka was burned into his eyes. He felt paralyzed by Baka. He thought about what he was throwing away and began to feel remorseful.
“Feeling guilty won’t help you now.” Baka quipped to Teddy’s dismay. Beginning to feel enraged, a tear dripped from Teddy’s eye. Just let it be over with, Teddy thought, trying to focus on the gumdrops.
“As you wish, ol’ chap! Hahahaha!” Baka, The Mystic Crocodile wailed in glee. Lowering its head, Baka’s top hat fell to its arms and it pulled out a small black wand, extended it outward, and proceeded to chant:
“Teddy wants to stop, stop, stop,But first I will make him pop, pop, pop!”
A cold, colourless mist filled the air surrounding Teddy. His knees started to shake and his head felt tremendously heavy and began sinking. Miraculously, his legs lifted from the ground and began curling in on themselves. A force pulling his arms inwards, and Teddy fought against it to no avail. His head was pounding and descended lower into his body, soon he was looking directly at his collarbone. His knees snapped at the joints and moments later his elbows blew out. The lifeless limbs continued to push inwards into his system, crushing his organs as they inserted themselves inside. Muscles in his neck spasmed as his head continued to drop down, lower, lower, and lower. His stomach protruded outward and he felt like one of those poisonous fish that swim in the oceans with their bellies bigger than an overdue pregnant lady.
Baka, The Mystic Crocodile, simply stood on watching the growing spectacle in front of his eyes as if it were a re-run on television. Teddy was now floating in the air in a big orb of stretched skin and fluids, looking like a big red human-sized balloon floating about. Teddy wasn’t thinking about anything now except for the sheer amount of pain he was experiencing. He just wanted it to stop. At that moment Baka moved forwards and reached out his wand to tap the blob as a reminder of who was in charge. Baka pulled the wand back and speedily struck it forwards stabbing it right into Teddy’s outstretched stomach. A loud pop sound cracked and guts flew everywhere, falling into the murky swamp below. Startled at the explosion, A flock of crows flew away from a nearby tree.
Teddy was dead. Baka, The Mystic Crocodile showed no reaction and slowly returned to his original position within the swamp as if to say my business is done here. The whole ordeal lasted no more than 5 minutes.